


An Echo of What Has Been Paid

by debtdoctor



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Canon Temporary Character Death, Friendship/Love, Gen, Gender-Neutral Runner Five, Season/Series 01 Spoilers, Season/Series 02 Spoilers, canon character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-13
Updated: 2015-02-13
Packaged: 2018-03-12 06:10:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3346421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/debtdoctor/pseuds/debtdoctor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Character study of 5's relationships with Sam and Sarah. Gen fic, but could be romantic if you squint any which way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I'll Be Listening

Sometimes you forget how _young_ Sam is.

  
Because primarily, when you're out in the field, what matters is his ability to get you out and bring you home. And yeah, you've seen more than a few good runners go, but when it's your turn, you're sure it won't happen because of a mistake on Sam's part.  
  
It's because he's good at his job you forget. It's because half the time, he's cracking jokes about the here and now, and because everyone grows up a little too fast when it gets rough.  
  
It jumps out at you sometimes. His hero worship of the old Runner 10, or actively denying his love for Demons  & Darkness right up until you and Maxine catch him in his lie.  
  
It's in the way he thinks of exploding chickens before land mines, the way he _still_ holds a grudge against Nadia, and it even goes back to how he mourned Alice during your initial training.  
  
You see it most when shit hits the fan and he pleads with Janine.  
  
You're not _that_ much older than him. A few years. He was in his major classes, and just finding out how much he hated them, which means, what, nineteen? Twenty? A sophomore or an early junior?  
  
So young.  
  
But you trust him to bring you home.

  
You trust him to watch the back of your Demon Hunter, even as his Berserker decides to rush the mob, roll a one, and trip headfirst into the previously unnoticed trench.

  
You trust him to be there when you break down remembering how the only reason you know the words to that one song was because you had a friend in high school who was _obsessed_ with that band, and she'd play the album when you hung out at her house.  
  
It happens. Everyone understands.  
  
Sam is there when you feel too young for this too.


	2. You're the Night Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A continuation of chapter one, focusing on 5's relationship with Sara.

8 is there when you feel too old.  
  
When you look at the envelope sitting by your bunk, the one with the handwritten label "Veronica Michelle". When _you're_ the one comforting someone in need, it's with Sara that you exchange nods, before getting on with your duty. When you feel the weight of understanding Nadia. Because it's not about killing Lem, but the insidious hope you gave her. It's not that she hates you, it's that she hates the choices you made, and God knows that's worse. Sam believes in orders, in superiors making the right choices, and that someone you trust telling you to do something is proper justification for the outcome. You and Sara know that ethics are malleable, people are fallible, and utilitarianism hurts people.  
  
Even when she leaves, that first time she's gone, it's her you turn to. She laughs later, when you tell her you spoke to the sky, and tells you that next time it happens, when it _really_ happens, you should talk to the ground.  
  
There's an 8 shakily tattooed on your trigger finger, and you will never forget it.  
  
It's her you can turn to when you don't want comfort from the memories of the eerie howling at the bottom of that ship, or from the dreams where the old 5's run you down, panting so loudly in your ears it drowns out the voice of potential salvation. Memories of all the close calls, when you wonder what 10 would have said about your odds. It's her you turn to when you need to stare death in the face, and fight it with sardonic laughter.  
  
Sara makes being too old feel like a goal, rather than a curse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I completely stole the idea that 5 has an 8 tattooed on their trigger finger, and for the life of me I cannot find the fic to reference it. I can't even remember where I read it. My apologies to the original author. If anyone has a link, I'd be more than happy to include it here, as it's a fantastic story.
> 
> Edit: Crow, the author of the aforementioned fic, has messaged me with a link to the story! http://thetalkingcrocus.tumblr.com/post/110039372441/infinite
> 
> Please go check it out!


End file.
